3 STARS

That’s all I have. Three stars is all I can allow myself to give Without Merit by Colleen Hoover and stay true to myself. I love CoHo’s book, I really do, but this one…not so much. It’s not that the book is horrible but it’s not her best work. I thought since she hadn’t released a new book in 2017 that she was about to blow me away.

Welp… I’m still standing. I was not blow away at all. Not in the slightest.

This book was one of the times in my life I can say, “I’m disappointed.” Not because the book sucked balls, but because I know she can do better. That’s really what it boils down to, I’m disappointed. I’m really disappointed.

I’m going to try to keep it pretty but I’m not making any promises. It may get a wee bit messy.

Let’s hear what CoHo has to say. . .

Synopsis

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.

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Let’s get messy…

First, I want everyone to know that this is not a romance novel, just in case you thought it would be. There’s a touch of romance, but nothing swoon worthy. That wasn’t a problem for me – I just had to adjust my mindset, but that only took me ten minutes, max. It’s more of a story about acceptance and understanding – finding yourself, so to speak. Just like many other Colleen Hoover books, there is an important message written in the words.

My boobs are fake, but they look and feel real. When I run they jiggle and bounce like real boobs would. I spent over a year researching different plastic surgeons around the ENTIRE country because I wanted the best of the best. I didn’t want just anybody cutting me open. When I found the doctor I wanted, I didn’t care how much time and money it cost me to have him fix my saggy boobs, because he was the best. I expected the best from him. His reputation was on the line. Needless to say, he did an amazing job and I thank him everyday I look in the mirror. If he didn’t do a good job I would have been pissed that I traveled so far and spent so much money on someone who was mediocre.

What was the point of that overshare moment? I’m leading up to a point and my boobs are alway a good place to start! 🙂

Colleen Hoover is the best of the best when it comes to writing. She’s fucking brilliant. I have read loads and loads of books so I know a good author when I see one. I know what I’m talking about. She’s one of the best. I expected her to show up and show out with her new book. She showed up but she did not show out. I really thought after a long break in between her books that she was going to come out HOT! That’s not what happened here.

And that’s okay. It happens. I’m not always 110% at everything I do but I’m still the shit.

Without Merit started out very well, I was hooked by the end of chapter one – there was already drama. YES! I love me some good old story time drama. I found Merit personality intriguing – at first. . . after awhile she just came off as crazy and annoying. I don’t have a little sister or brother, but I could imagine her as being the annoying little sister that gets on everyones nerves.

The storyline was attempting to paint Merit’s family as this crazy dysfunctional mess, but I didn’t really get that. My family drama growing up was a crazy dysfunctional mess, her family just had too many secrets and once they were exposed everything got better within a week or maybe it was five days. I can’t really remember and I’m not in the mood to go back and fact check so I will say it was between 3-7 days. It played out more as a misunderstanding than a dysfunctional family.

With a few tweaks here and there, the book could have been better. Maybe she just needs new beta readers.

I don’t know you guys. It’s like, I can see what CoHo was trying to do here but it was just executed oddly. Yeah, oddly, that’s a good way to put it. There are some deep rooted issues in this book from depressions, to sexual identity, to cheating, to family roles, to alcohol and drug abuse. Somewhere in the story the mark was mixed.

Normally when I read a CoHo book my Kindle is filled with highlights and notes, but for Without Merit, I only have two. It may not be two because one of them is a popular one that was made to standout so I don’t know if that even counts.

“Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.” – Sagan

When I reached the end of the book, I felt like there wasnt any real conclusion to the book. Everyone’s issues where still there at the surface. Nothing was really resolved. There was only a bandage put on top of everything that would eventually fall off.

All I know is that it was supposed to be better. . . *insert sad face*

Do I recommend this book? It hurts to say this but no, I do not.

Will I read more books by this author? Of course, I’m still a fan.

I tried my best not to get too messy or giveaway the story. I don’t think I succeeded though. Oh, well, life goes on and Colleen is still rich so she won’t give a fuck about my two cents.

TTYL, lovers. . .

Stalk all things messy…

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